The devastating Easter weekend cold snap that wiped out entire crops in certain parts of the US south seems to have had a minimal impact on fruit prices overall, according to agricultural economists.

The price of peaches and apples will not rise significantly, according to Dr. Richard Kilmer of the University of Florida. “If [the total U.S.] supply went down 25 percent, this would have an impact,” Kilmer said.

But only a small percentage of the U.S. crop is grown in Indiana and Illinois - the two hardest-hit states.

According to the National Agricultural Statistic Service of the USDA, the number of bearing acres of peaches in Illinois this year is 1600 and 650 in Indiana in 2004. Peach acre statistics are no longer kept for Indiana. This compares to the total U.S. acres planted of 108,160.

Illinois and Indiana have a combined 8,000 acres in apple trees, or less than 2 percent of the 379,490 acres dedicated to apples throughout the U.S.

Topics